Purple Sunrise Smoothie

I am a big fan of breakfast. It's the one meal I won't ever forget to eat and most days, I actually have two or three breakfasts. I know you other endurance athletes hear me on that one! Usually, I grab a Lara bar before I ride, have recovery drink after my ride (Vega Recovery Accelerator), and then have a real breakfast when I sit down at my desk and start to do work with coffee. Lately though, I've gotten tired of taking the time to pack, and then lugging around the breakfast, lunch, snacks, and sometimes even dinner that I take with me into MIT to get me through my day. I almost never buy food on campus so with the amount of food one has to eat if you're doing a lot of training, this gets old really fast! So that I can get away with packing less, I've started making smoothies in the morning, even if I haven't gone riding since it's something I can "eat" while getting ready. i.e. One less thing that I need to take with me! It's a throw-back to high school, when during swim season, my Mom would have my brother and I drink Carnation Instant Breakfast along with our "real" breakfasts just so that we wouldn't get too hungry before it was time for lunch. This smoothie recipe has been my favorite lately. It's only 4 ingredients (blueberries, spinach, protein powder, and almond milk) and with those packs in a serving of fruit, a serving of vegetables, and some good quality protein. With my vegetable smoothies, I've been using a sweetened protein powder, specifically Vega One Nutritional Shake. This protein powder is fortified with extra nutrients including omega-3 fatty acids, chlorella, antioxidants, and probiotics, which helps me forgive the addition of stevia. Also, adding spinach or another non-sweet ingredient helps cut what I consider to be the excessive sweetness offered by the stevia. I hope you enjoy it!

Purple Sunrise Smoothie

3/4c frozen blueberries
3/4c frozen spinach (or fresh spinach if you don't have a high speed blender)
3/4 scoop sweetened vanilla protein powder (For this, I've been using Vanilla Vega One Nutritional Shake)
1/2- 1c vanilla almond milk and/ or water (I usually do half and half)

Blend or food process all ingredients until smooth. This will take a bit longer than usual because of the spinach. If you don't have a high speed blender, use fresh spinach, as the result will be too stringy with the frozen spinach. Check the viscosity and add additional water if necessary. Enjoy the sunrise with a nutritious start to your day!

XPot Reflections & A Green Smoothie

This weekend was by far the most challenging and exhilarating race that I've ever been involved in planning. While some events go well because everything going according to plan, this was the first time that I've run an event that was a success despite all odds. The first day of XPot 2014 went according to plan, with excellent conditions for the ITT in the morning (some sun and calm winds!) although rain in the afternoon made the sharp turns in the crit course less than desirable. Looking at the forecast for the next day, the volunteer coordinator (remember, Sam the guest blogger? That's him!) and I worked out plans that would allow us to run our Sunday RR race safely despite ice, heavy rain, and flooding. We felt great about it!

The next morning, I drove out to the RR course before dawn in heavy rain, but wasn't worried, because we had a re-route of the course planned to avoid any potential flooding. I started checking out the course, at the point where I thought flooding would be the worst. Not too bad, but personally I wouldn't have been thrilled to race in it, so I went on to check out our re-route. This was where the disaster started! The flood-proof re-route basically looked like there was a waterfall running down the street. At this point, I still didn't panic because the original course wasn't so bad and the rain was easing up, and one of our plans allowed us to postpone races until the afternoon. I made some calls and let people know that we'd be postponing start times. For good measure at this point, I drove back to inspect the whole course from the beginning. Well, I was in for a big surprise! At the bottom of our big, fast descent a river was running across the road! It was deep, wide, and moving fast enough that I was worried about driving my Subaru through it. There was no way in h*ll that I was going to let people race through that! While there was a small chance that it would dry up, I knew that we needed to find another course asap. Immediately, I remembered the course 6.5 mile we used for the TTT last year: it was significantly uphill from the planned RR course and offered rolling terrain that wasn't as awesome as the planned course, but wouldn't be completely terrible. I set out to check out those roads and found some hope! No flooding and only 1 sandy corner.

I returned to the school where the rest of the committee was congregated and delivered the news. We got ahold of the police chief (bless his soul, answering our phone calls on a Sunday morning!) and somehow convinced him to give us permission to run the races on these roads. Mind you, this course included a few miles on a major road aptly named "Central Turnpike" so I'm not sure how we did it! We rearranged the schedule and the volunteers yet again, collect the signs from the original course, set out signs for the new course, sent out people to sweep the corners, and the announcement was made that the race would start at 11am on the new course.

That all sounds good and miraculous, but it wasn't time for a happy ending yet! At 10:30am on our way out to put the police and officials in place we found that... surprise! There was now flooding on course #3 of the day. Things looked pretty bleak as I drove around looking for more options. There was a beautiful climb uphill from the school, but the roads were in no way in good enough shape to run a mass start race. The only other option was to run the race through the town center, on roads that encircled the police and fire stations. Given how picky the citizens of the town were about our race, I figured there was no way that we were going to get away with running the race. I nervously returned to the school and reported my findings to the officials and ECCC coordinators. I told them I thought we'd need to run a TT. I was told that we would have to cancel unless we could run a mass start! Seeing cancellation as failure, and knowing that it wasn't an option, I found the courage to persuade the police that running the race through the town center and for three miles down "Central Turnpike" would not be disruptive, since the roads were wide and there would be no change in the traffic flow. Somehow this worked! Thirty minutes before the start of racing, we got our permissions, found an extra police officer, replanned volunteer schedules, sent people out to mark & sweep the new course, and re-put officials, officers, and volunteers in place.

Races went off at noon with wet roads and a light drizzle. None of the categories even had to be cancelled, and the feedback on the course was that it was "fun" and "safe." Not bad! Even better, at the end of the day the conference coordinator suggested that next year, we could run a circuit race, rather than our dreaded crit. The first ever XPot Stage Race! While this was supposed to be my last year as XPot promoter, I definitely now want to stick around to see that to fruition.

Me in my XPot shirt standing in a waterfall last summer. Strangely appropriate, as the water rushing over the flooded streets looked just like this!

I'm still winding down from that exciting weekend, and have been distracted all week thus far by the prospect of my own racing season starting soon! But I wanted to share a very simple recipe. My first green smoothie! This simple beauty contains mango, spinach, vanilla protein powder, and almond milk. Before my Ninja blender, I had bad luck with adding greens, but with the Ninja, I found that the spinach nicely balances the sweetness of the mango. Starting last summer, smoothies have been my thing when I get back from rides. You can't beat 'em as a recovery food!

Green Mango Smoothie

3/4c frozen mango cubes
2c fresh or 1/3c frozen spinach (I like it better with fresh!)
1/2 scoop unsweetened vanilla protein powder
1c vanilla almond milk

Combine all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Recovery Tips from the Pros

I've been wanting to write this post for a while, but for some reason, I procrastinated the actual writing part. To be honest, I was searching patent literature rather than writing this... I think probably it's because my expertise in the matter of recovery stems from a magical period of my life that thinking about sometimes still feels a little like salt in a fresh wound. For those of you who don't know, I spent most of the summer of 2009 at the Caspersen Olympic Training Site in Princeton, training and making the senior national rowing team. I represented the USA in the women's lightweight quad and won a bronze medal at the World Championships. This was all right after I passed my qualifying exams to become a PhD candidate at MIT. I was truly living the dream. A few months later, I got badly injured and was never able to return to that level of competition. It still hurts.

Anyways, when you are at the training center, it is absolutely critical that you are at your best every day, for every practice, and that you never show any weakness. If you're not at your best, someone else will be and that someone else will take your place on the team. From my time "living the dream", I learned that you have to take your recovery just as seriously as your training, and I learned a ton of tricks to make sure that my legs felt fresh every day! This isn't a super scientific post, it's what I think (from experience) are the most effective means to make sure that you're at your best for your next training session or race.

Contrast Showers: I used these half-heartedly during the world championships since no tub was available, but really fell in love with them this year. Now they are my favorite recovery trick for the summer time. Basically, it's what it sounds like: You alternate between 1 minute of hot water (as hot as you can stand it) and 1 minute of cold water (as cold as you can stand it). I do this for the duration of my shower, so that it's very efficient multi-tasking. The idea here is that during the cold bouts, your blood (which is full of the waste compounds from your hard workout) rushes out of your limbs and to your core, to support life. Fresh blood travels back to the limbs during the warm bouts. (This is better for summer or indoor workouts, as it helps bring your core temperature down. Once the temperature dropped below 60F, I got too cold for this to be effective.)

Compression Socks: They sell a lot of fancy, expensive compression socks and tights for recovery, and this is because they definitely help! Compression socks are my favorite trick for recovering during the colder months, or for keeping your legs fresh while driving to a race. I've tried more expensive versions, but my favorites are these $5 socks that you can get at your local drug store. Basically, the idea here is that you're compressing your lower legs to prevent the blood (with waste products from your workout) from pooling and to help your legs recirculate the blood.

Legs up the Wall: This literally drains the blood out of your legs, which takes the built up toxins with it so that when you stand up, fresh blood rushes in. I stay like this for 30 minutes, but some of my friends can get the effect in less time.

Ice Baths: We all know that icing an injury helps bring down inflammation, right? The idea here is the same, with the added benefit that all of your blood will rush out of your legs and into your core for survival. Thus it will be replaced by fresh blood once you warm up. Professional athletes use extreme versions of cryotherapy but we can get a similar effect by filling our bathtubs with cold water, adding 2 bags of ice, and sitting there for 20 minutes. Make sure to put on a warm fleece or jacket and hat while your sitting in the tub to prevent actual hypothermia. If your body temperature still hasn't returned to normal an hour after you get out of the tub, you may want to take a warm shower to get things flowing again. I always have to do this because I get really cold!

Sleep: This seems obvious, but it needs to be said. Everyone's needs are different, but you'll perform better if you're getting 8 hours of sleep. Or more if you're trying to recover from a really tough race or training session! I took a nap every afternoon while I was at the training center, and still take naps every day of multi-day races. 

Proper Nutrition: There is a "magic window" in the hour after you work out, where your body utilizes the food you give it to actively rebuild the damage that you've inflicted. After that time, the calories are used less effectively. During your magic hour, it's best to consume both carbohydrates and protein, preferably in a 2.5 to 1 ratio. There are also many papers that suggest that cherry juice can help with the recovery process.

Anyways, those are the tricks that I think help the most. Lately, I've been making smoothies right when I get back from my rides, to jump start my recovery with a tasty elixir containing carbohydrates and protein in a 2.5 to 1 ratio. I keep it simple and I think the antioxidants in the blueberries help!

Super-Simple Recovery Smoothie

1c frozen blueberries 

1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder (should be ~12g protein. I like using a mixture of hemp/ pea/ rice protein, but I'm still working on figuring out my preferred brand)

1c almond milk (or coconut milk for the medium chain triglycerides)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add additional milk or water if you like a thinner smoothie. Enjoy and recover well!

Perfect Pumpkin Pancakes

I've been on a quest for a few years now for the perfect pumpkin pancakes. It's silly that a pumpkin pancake could be so elusive, but usually my pancakes turn out mushy rather than fluffy, which to me is just devastating. This devastation is usually compounded by the fact that I'm eating brunch after a long ride (at 3pm) so I'm already exhausted and my disappointments seem to be magnified.

Finally, this weekend, I learned what I was doing wrong... I was trying to add gluten to the pancakes. Silly me! These oat-based pumpkin pancakes are just perfect, especially served with walnuts or maybe some spiced lentils to balance out the carbohydrate to protein ratio. The body recovers best when a 2.5:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein is consumed within an hour after your workout.

Pumpkin Oat Pancakes

2c oat flour (as usual, prepared by food processing gluten free oats)
2T cornstarch
1t baking soda
1t baking powder
3T brown sugar
pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon to taste
2T ground flaxseed(soaked in 6T water)
2c vanilla almond or soy milk
1/2 can pumpkin puree
1/2t vanilla extract

1. Grease (with spray or vegetable oil) and preheat griddle.
2. Pre-mix 2T flaxseed and 5T water and let sit (this is your egg replacer)
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, brown sugar, and spices.
4. Add remaining wet ingredients, including the flaxseed mixture.
5. When water droplets flung at the griddle sizzle, your griddle is hot enough. Drop 1/3c batter on the griddle. Flip when the top is covered in bubbles.
6. Cook the other side 2-3 minutes. Check that your first pancake is cooked through (by cutting it in half) to get a feel for the timing. Enjoy with real maple syrup!

Chocolate Birthday Cake with Blackberry Ice Cream

Happy Friday! You've almost made it to the weekend, congratulations :) As a reward, I am finally sharing my vegan chocolate birthday cake with fudge filling, buttercream icing, and blackberry coconut ice cream.

Well, in all of my recipes thus far, I've been able to give logical reasoning as to why you would want to put that food into you. I can't begin to pretend that this post is about a health food. This post is about a decadent vegan dessert that I made for my fiancé for his birthday. It would also serve as an amazing source of calories after a long ride though! Especially the ice cream, as the antioxidants in blackberries and the medium chain triglycerides in coconut have been shown to speed recovery and enhance athletic performance.

The one question that remains to be answered... why a vegan dessert? I have nothing against eggs... except their cholesterol, which over time can wreck havoc on your heart. In this recipe, we replace the eggs with flax seed, which also is known to prevent coronary heart disease, so you can feel good about that.

Chocolate Cake 

I borrowed the base cake recipe from Kathy at Happy. Healthy. Life. I omitted the maple syrup/ agave though and added a total of 1 1/3c brown sugar. I also used canola oil rather than safflower. No cayenne and I used white whole wheat flour. Let the cake cool completely before you start going at it with the fudge filling and the icing :)

Chocolate Fudge Filling

1/4c chocolate chips

1/4c powdered sugar

3T cocoa powder

2T coconut oil

In a small microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate chips for ~1 minute, until they are soft and melty. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Continue microwaving for 30 second intervals followed by stirring until you have a thick fudge sauce.

Vegan Buttercream Icing

3/4c earth balance vegan buttery spread

1/4t vanilla

3c powdered sugar

2T vanilla almond milk

Cream "butter" and vanilla using a beater. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until thoroughly mixed. After the last cup is added, the mixture should ball up slightly. Add almond milk to return to creamy texture and beat until light and fluffy.

Blackberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream

1 bag frozen blackberries

1 can coconut milk (the low-fat coconut cream type that comes in a can)

2c coconut milk (the thinner type that comes in a carton)

1c white sugar

1. Let blackberries defrost then puree until mostly smooth in a food processor. 

Note: If you don't like bits in your ice cream, you can pass this through a strainer to get rid of the seeds and chunks and get get blackberry juice. We do like the bits so we left them.

2. Add coconut milks, sugar, and blackberry puree to a large pan. Heat on high stirring constantly until it begins to boil, then reduce to medium heat and let bubble for 2 minutes. Keep stirring.

3. Remove from heat and let cool. (I usually let it cool overnight in the refrigerator.

4. Transfer to ice cream maker and let it do it's magic. 

5. Enjoy alone or a la mode with the cake above!